Once the demesne of the wealthy La Touche banking family, Marlay Park is a large public park at Rathfarnham, at the foot of the Dublin Mountains on the southern edge of the city. The estate takes its name from Elizabeth Marlay, whose husband David La Touche bought the property shortly after their marriage in the 1760s and gave it her family name. The La Touches rebuilt the house and laid out the grounds in the fashionable landscape style of the day, enclosing parkland with curving belts of trees rather than formal gardens. At its height the estate ran to well over a hundred hectares, though much of that has since been built over. After passing through several owners, including the coal and shipping magnate Robert Tedcastle, the property was acquired by the local authority and opened to the public as Marlay Park in 1975. The Georgian Marlay House at its centre, with fine plasterwork interiors, survives alongside a courtyard of craft workshops. Today the park offers walking trails, a lake and ponds, sports pitches, a model railway, a popular playground and a regular weekend market. Its restored walled garden and the craft courtyard add to the attractions for a family visit. The park is best known to many as the starting point of the Wicklow Way, the long-distance walking trail that climbs from here into the mountains and continues south through Wicklow. In summer it also hosts large outdoor concerts that draw big crowds. Free to enter and open year-round, Marlay Park combines an historic demesne with a busy modern amenity at the meeting of city and mountains. For residents and visitors alike it is a green gateway to the uplands and a pleasant destination in its own right. The park is free and open daily, with car parking, a cafe and the craft courtyard near the house, and the weekend market draws a steady crowd. Walkers setting out on the Wicklow Way begin from here, and the trails, playground and sports facilities make it popular with families throughout the year. Set where the suburbs meet the foothills on the southern edge of the city, Marlay offers both an easy local outing and a gateway to the mountains, and its summer concerts have made it a fixture on the Dublin events calendar.

Type: Outdoors

Address: Grange Road, Dublin, Ireland

Website: https://www.dlrcoco.ie

Opening Date: 01/01/1975